Skip to main content

Secure your PC

-RootKit Detection

 What is a RootKit?

 - A rootkit is a programme, script or set of software tools that allows an attacker full access to your PC or network. By full access, we mean administrator-level access. A rootkit is really the technique for getting harmful things like Trojans, Spyware and Viruses on to a system.

Why are RootKits so dangerous?

The main form of an attack for a rootkit is stealth. They will hide away, deep in the recesses of your computer. Because they have administrator-level access they can do things like hijack your Windows searches and hide any information about the RootKit, control your Anti-Virus software and tell it to ignore the RootKit, hide from the list of active processess. And a whole lot more besides!
The most famous RootKit was one that was installed by some Sony audio CDs. Sony hid a RootKit on people's computer as part of its Digital Rights Managment strategy. This gave them effective control of a user's PC. A security expert called Mark Russinovich (of Sysinternals) discovered the Sony RootKit, and it made the news the world over. Sony had to issue a download so that people get the RootKit off their computers. They also recalled all the music CDs that had the RootKit software.
It's the fact that RootKits are so difficult to detect that makes them dangerous.


How do I know if I'm infected?

With great difficulty is the answer to this one! Don't expect your Anti-Virus software to help you out here. The very best RootKits can easily defeat Anti-Virus software, so you need a specialist tool for this job. There's a really good website that explains in more detail just what a RootKit is. They also have links to some free RootKit Detection tools.
We highly recommend you pop along to this website, and get your PC checked for RootKits.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to change your Windows XP Desktop Wallpaper - Wallpapers are images that appear in the background on your Desktop, behind all your icons. To change your Desktop wallpaper, do the following: Click anywhere on the Desktop that is not an icon, but click once with your right hand mouse button A menu pops up. The one below Click on  Properties , once with your Left mouse button The following dialogue box pops up This is the Display Properties dialogue box. As you can see, there are tab strips for Themes, Desktop, Screensaver, Appearance, and Settings. Click on the Background tab strip and the dialogue box will change to this one: There is a list of wallpapers we can use. Click on one, and you get a preview of what it will look like. Scroll down to see more wallpapers. If you're satisfied, click the OK button to set your wallpaper. You can use your own images. You are not limited to the ones on the list. If you have an image somewhere on your compute...
Post a Comment
Read more
Beginners PHP  -This is a complete and free PHP programming course for beginners. It's assumed that you already have some HTML skills. But you don't need to be a guru, by any means. If you need a refresher on HTML, then click the link for the Web Design course on the left of this page. Everything you need to get started with this PHP course is set out in section one below. Good luck! Home Page > PHP Section One - An Introduction to PHP 1. What is PHP and Why do I need it? 2. What you need to get started 3. Installing and testing Wampserver 4. Troubleshooting > PHP Two - Getting Started With Variables 1. What is a Variable? 2. Putting text into variables 3. Variables - some practice 4. More variable practice 5. Joining direct text and variable data 6. Adding up in PHP 7. Subtraction 8. Multiplication 9. Division 10. Floating point numbers > PHP Three - Conditional Logic 1. If Statements 2. Using If Statements 3....
Post a Comment
Read more
Finishing the Spreadsheet  - To finish off the Excel spreadsheet you have been working on in this section, we'll add figures for the weekly cost and yearly costs of the chocolate addiction. We'll use AutoFill and SUM. The bottom of our spreadsheet looks like this: We now have how much each individual chocolate bar is costing us each week. The next things to do is to add them all up to arrive at a weekly figure for all chocolate bars. To calculate the weekly cost of the chocolate addiction, you can use the Excel SUM function. But there's an even easier way - use Auto Fill and SUM. Try this. Click inside cell F20 Click inside the Formula bar at the top and enter   = SU When you see the drop down list of functions, double click   SUM Now click inside D15 of you spreadsheet Excel will enter the Cell for you in the formula bar: Notice the marching ants around Cell D15, and that there is a blue border with blue squares Hold your mouse over the bottom r...
Post a Comment
Read more